The Paterson Public Schools (PPS) is a comprehensive community

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

that serves students in

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...

from Paterson,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The district is one of 31 former

Abbott district ''Abbott'' districts are school districts in New Jersey that are provided remedies to ensure that their students receive public education in accordance with the state constitution. They were created in 1985 as a result of the first ruling of ''Abb ...

s statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging the ...

in ''Abbott v. Burke'' which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the

New Jersey Schools Development Authority The New Jersey Schools Development Authority (commonly referred to as NJSDA or SDA) is the State agency responsible for fully funding and managing the new construction, modernization and renovation of school facilities projects in 31 New Jersey sch ...

. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of 50 schools, had an enrollment of 25,937 students and 1,916.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...

of 13.5:1.District information for Paterson Public School District

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

. Accessed February 15, 2022. For the 2014–15 school year, the district anticipated a budget with total expenditures of $591 million and per pupil spending of $16,696. The district is classified by the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

as being in

District Factor Group {{refimprove, date=February 2013 Membership in a District Factor Group (DFG) is an indicator of the socioeconomic status of citizens in school districts of New Jersey. DFGs were first developed by the New Jersey Department of Education in 1975 for ...

"A", the lowest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common

socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J. Among the 594 students who took the SAT in 2013, the mean combined score was 1120 and there were 19 students (3.2% of those taking the exam) who achieved the combined score of 1550 that the

College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...

considers an indicator of college readiness, a decline from the 26 students (4.3%) who achieved the standard the previous year. District enrollment in Paterson surged at the start of the 2015–16 school year, creating a public school enrollment of 700 students higher than expected and putting the school district in a situation of needing to hire teachers rapidly not long after the district had laid off 300 positions.

State intervention

The district is one of three districts in New Jersey (along with

Newark Public Schools Newark Board of Education is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The state took over the district in ...

and

Jersey City Public Schools The Jersey City Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district located in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant ...

) under "state intervention", which authorizes the Commissioner of Education to intervene in governance of a local public school district (and to intervene in the areas of instruction and program, operations, personnel, and fiscal management) if the Commissioner has determined that a school district failed or was unable to take corrective actions necessary to establish a thorough and efficient system of education.Governance and Urban School Improvement: Lessons for New Jersey From Nine Cities
, pp. 65–68, Institute on Education Law and Policy, Rutgers–Newark, October 2010. Accessed September 10, 2014.

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the

) are: ;Elementary schools *Renaissance One School of Humanities / School 1 (K-5; 234) *School 2 (K-8; 491) *School 3 (K-8; 329) *Dr. Frank Napier Jr. School of Technology #4 (1–8; 548) *School 5 (K-6; 744) *Senator Frank R. Lautenberg School / School 6 (PreK-8; 626) *School 7 (5–8; 744) *School 8 (K-8; 461) *Charles J. Riley / School 9 (PreK-8; 736) *School 10 (K-8; 537) *Newcomers Program / School 11 (3-10; 191) *School 12 (K-8; 546) *School 13 (K-8; 536) *School 14 (closed) *Full Service Community School / School 15 (PreK-5; 519) *School 16 (PreK-8; 850) *School 18 (1-8; 740) *School 19 (K-4; 360) *School 20 (K-8; 431) *School 21 (PreK-8; 694) *Fine & Performing Arts Program / School 24 (PreK-8; 712) *School 25 (K-8; 596) *School 26 (K-8; 522) *School 27 (K-5; 633) *School 28 (PreK-8; 466) *School 29 (K-4; 311) *Dale Avenue School (PreK-2; 243) *Anna Iandoli Early Learning Center (PreK; 77) *Edward W. Kilpatrick School (PreK-3; 347) *Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Complex (K-8; 603) *New Roberto Clemente School (6–8; 471) *Norman S. Weir School (K-8; 292) *Roberto Clemente School (K-5; 301) *Dr. Hani Awadallah School (PreK-8; 598) ;Elementary academies *Alexander Hamilton Academy (K-8; 525) *Joseph A. Taub School (formerly Don Bosco Academy) (6–8; 833) *Paterson Academy for the Gifted and Talented (NA) *Young Men's Leadership Academy (3-8; 73) ;High schools * Eastside Educational Complex **

School of Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism The School of Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Tourism is a four-year public high school in Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Paterson Public Schools. It is one of a number of academy programs serving ...

@ Eastside (9–12; 633) **

School of Government and Public Administration The School of Government and Public Administration is a four-year public high school in Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Paterson Public Schools. It is one of a number of academy programs serving s ...

@ Eastside (9–12; 695) ** School of Information Technology @ Eastside (9–12; 657) * International High School (9–12; 481) * John F. Kennedy Educational Complex **

School of Architecture and Construction Trades The School of Architecture and Construction Trades is a four-year public high school in Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Paterson Public Schools. It is one of a number of academy programs serving s ...

@ JFK (ACT) (9–12; 583) **

School of Business, Technology, Marketing and Finance The School of Business, Technology, Marketing and Finance is a four-year public high school in Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Paterson Public Schools. It is one of a number of academy programs se ...

@ JFK (BTMF) (9–12; 627) **

School of Education and Training The School of Education and Training is a four-year public high school in Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Paterson Public Schools. It is one of a number of academy programs serving students in nin ...

@ JFK (SET) (9–12; 466) **

School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics The School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is a four-year public high school in Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, operated as part of the Paterson Public Schools. It is one of a number of academy progra ...

(STEM) (9–12; 625) * Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts (9–12; 238) * Garrett Morgan Academy (183; 9-12) *

Panther Academy The Panther Academy (formally the Academy of Earth & Space Science) is a four-year state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school in Paterson, New Jersey, Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Je ...

– Academy of Earth and Space Science (9–12; 215) * HARP Academy (9–12; 298) *Students Transitioning and Achieving Real Success (STARS) (9-12; 108) ;Other *Alozno "Tambua" Moody Academy / School 11 (NA) *Paterson Adult & Continuing Education (PACE) Adult High School or G.E.D. (NA) *Silk City Academy (NA) *Destiny Academy

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are: *Eileen F. Shafer, Acting State District Superintendent of Schools *Daisy Ayala, Business Administrator / Board Secretary

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

announced in March 2009 that he was recommending the appointment of Evans as the district's superintendent, with the State Board of Education ratifying the nomination of Evans by

Lucille Davy Lucille Davy was the Commissioner of Education in New Jersey. She was named acting commissioner on September 9, 2005, by former Governor of New Jersey Richard Codey. She was named commissioner by Governor Jon Corzine as of July 11, 2006. When ...

, Commissioner of the

Board of education

The district's

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2014) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district. The district voted in September 2013 voted by a 5-4 margin to move school elections from April to November. An attempt by members of the Paterson City Council in January 2022 to shift elections back to April failed after the vote ended in a 4-4 tie.Malconico, Joe
"Paterson City Council's attempt to move school elections fails"
''Paterson Press'', January 19, 2022. Accessed March 29, 2022. "In a 4-4 vote, the City Council on Tuesday night rejected a proposal to move Paterson’s school elections from November to April, an outcome decided only after Councilman Alex Mendez changed his mind at the last minute."

References

External links

Paterson Public Schools
*
School Data for the Paterson Public Schools

{{Authority control Education in Paterson, New Jersey New Jersey Abbott Districts New Jersey District Factor Group A School districts in Passaic County, New Jersey